Will.i.am Launches Ekocycle Line of Products Made from Recycled Waste

“All good things must end, but an end can be a new start,” explains Will.i.am in a new ad for Ekocycle, a new line of products and clothing made from recycled trash. The Black-Eyed Peas member announced today that he is teaming up with Coca-Cola to launch a high-end line of recycled products, which will seek to inspire and educate consumers about recycling. The first products made by Ekocycle will be a pair of Beats by Dre headphones made from recycled plastic that will cost $349 and a New Era baseball cap that will sell for $32.

Ekocycle plans to partner with other companies to offer products ranging from handbags to furniture and bicycles — and all of them will be branded with a logo explaining how many recycled bottles or cans went into the product. But just because the Ekocycle goods will be made from trash doesn’t mean they’ll be cheap; as the price tag on the Beats headphones demonstrate, Will.i.am is aiming for the luxury market with Ekocycle. So far, the Beats headphones and New Era hat are the only products announced by Ekocycle, but the ad shows objects ranging from a chair to a suitcase and a pair of sunglasses.

“If you think about (recycled) products now, none of them are cool,” will.i.am told the New York Daily News. “You have to bring some art and fashion sensibility into this technology that turns a bottle into something cool.” We of course don’t entirely agree with his assessment, but if Ekocycle gets more mainstream companies involved in using recycled materials in their wares, we can’t complain.